Undivided Attention
by Ali Keys
Summary: James Potter never could pay attention to anything else when Lily Evans was around. Oneshot


There she sits, one row over, two seats up. I never have mastered the art of not giving her my undivided attention, even when she doesn't know she has it. Her shoulders are hunched over and her red hair is shielding her face from everything else around her. I can tell she is biting her lower lip because she always does when she is taking a test. She concentrates so hard, even though it's a fact that she'll get the best marks out of the class. Each and every question earns the most fervent care and consideration in her eyes. It is amazingly adorable.

She pushes her hair behind her shoulder and sits up straight. Its obvious that she is done with her test. She places her white quill down and glances once more over the parchment. Her delicate fingers lightly traces its edge. She's gotten hundreds of paper cuts from doing this. 312 in fact. 313 including this time. She gasps lightly and pulls her finger away from the parchment. After a quick glace up to the teachers desk, she pulls her wand out from her robes and heals the small cut under her desk, away from the professor's severe eyes. I laugh softly to myself. There is nothing that amuses me more than to see her break a rule. She is usually a stickler for the rules. I'm positive that's why the headmaster made her Head Girl.

I remember the first day I ever laid eyes on her. She was sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Her eyes were glowing with excitement as she shared that moment with her best friend. She was wearing a deep green sweater and jeans that were torn in the knee. The green accentuated her eyes, emeralds against her pale face. I'm sure that's the moment her hatred began, but it was the moment I fell in love. I had never seen anything more beautiful or perfect. I've loved her ever since. Even when we were at our worst--fighting with each other, screaming at each other--I never could bring myself to let her go.

I notice everything she does. The way she gets really quiet when she's upset and the way she does kind things for people, but never lets them know. The way she picks the tomatoes out of every dish and sets them aside, allowing her best friend to eat them. I loved the way her face shown when her mom sent her fresh peaches. She loves peaches more than anything in this world. I see the way she loves her friends and her family, even her sister who has stopped being kind to her. I catch her every breath and her every smile.

I even see the glances.

At first they drove me mad. In third year, she could not keep her eyes off of a seventh year Ravenclaw student. Of course he didn't pay her any mind, but it was those simple glances in his direction that sent me over the edge. It was as if she cherished those stupid stolen moments and let them drive her from day to day. When he left the school, she acted as though he had shattered her heart, and although I was glad he was gone, I wanted to tear him limb from limb for making her hurt that way.

In fifth year, she started glancing at a boy our age, this time in Griffindor. He was a ridiculous prat who ate it up. She would glance up at him, and as soon as he saw her looking, he would do something stupid to show off. He would brag to his friend about how he had struck the fancy of the cutest girl in our year. It was as if she were some trophy that he could win and sit on his shelf. But, she was never one to make the first move and he was arrogant enough to think that she would come groveling to him. When she didn't, he took it upon himself to be with some girl or another every time she was near him. I saw the way her glances grew sadder each and every time. Finally the glances stopped.

It was then, in our seventh year, that I noticed she was glancing at me. I thought I was imagining it--hallucinating because I wished so fervently that she would. They were few and far between to begin with, but as of late they've become more and more frequent. She would never let anyone ever know that she was giving me the time of day. I hear the way her friends ask and the way she brushes them away with one excuse or another. No one could ever see the glances that were so perfectly timed so as to escape detection. No one but me.

She stands up now and glides up to the teachers desk and lays her parchment there. She turns and her red hair whips around her face. Her perfectly green eyes catch mine and, before she lowers them, I see the faintest of smiles play on her lips. The teacher excuses us all a few minutes later and me and my four friends make our way to the door.

It takes only a few seconds to get out into the corridor, but even less time for me to run right into her, knocking all of her books to the floor. Lily Evans glares at me and I stare stubbornly back.

"Why don't you try paying more attention, Potter?"

As she turns to leave, I can't help but smile.

* * *

_Just a cute little thing I thought up one day. Reviews make me happy. Happy people are more likely to give cookies out to strangers :)_


End file.
